


that's not how family structures work but sure

by Kadaaver



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Trolls on Earth, kid dirk strider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 03:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16318445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kadaaver/pseuds/Kadaaver
Summary: Just a cute little story about Karkat spending an evening with his boyfriend Dave and Dave's kid brother Dirk.





	that's not how family structures work but sure

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for my friendo Zosonils a while ago, I reread it again now and thought it was kinda cute so I decided to upload it <3

You had been spending an entire week at Dave’s place, which was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it was Dave, and a curse because it was Dave. Dirk had been there as well, to your delight. You had a bit of a difficult time with him in the start of yours and Dave’s relationship, but that was entirely on you for not knowing how the fuck to approach human children. Dirk was very chill though, literally like a smaller Dave. Since both of them were Striders there wasn’t any real expectation on you to watch your vocabulary, which Dave told you was usually the deal with kids. Something about protecting their innocence, which to you as a troll was hilarious. 

Dirk was cool though, hanging out with him wasn’t so different than hanging out with Dave’s other friends. Only that Dirk is.. kind of a permanent friend, that you really like and really want for him to like you. According to Dave, he already does, but this little guy has the best poker-face you’ve ever seen. Dave usually likes to pride himself with that title, but he really has nothing on his little brother. Which leads you to the issue of.. not knowing if the kid actually likes you or not. He’s mostly silent when he’s hanging with you and Dave, or well, in general. It makes it kind of difficult to properly get to know him when most conversations turn out to be one sided. 

Dave has assured you though that Dirk likes you, and you believe him. You suppose it’s just that the cold stare of a five year old freaks you out a little.

Right now Dirk’s sitting between you and Dave and seems to be more than half a sleep, which is fair because you’ve already watched two movies and it’s 10 pm. Dave has the snacks bowl on his lap and it’s solely because that son of a bitch wants to eyebrow waggle at your direction whenever you reach for his crotch. Fuck that. Fuck him. 

A soft thump against your shoulder alerts you to the fact that Strider Jr has now reached critical sleepiness levels, and you chuckle sort of fondly to get Dave’s attention.

“Aw little man, you’re looking pretty worn out over there. I think it’s time to hop into bed.” 

Dirk kind of grumbles, obviously displeased by the fact that you and Dave noticed him being sleepy. He obviously likes hanging with his big bro a lot and going to sleep is, as Dirk so elegantly put it himself, “not cool”. 

“Nah bro, quit it with the attitude. Take it from the older and wiser here, sleep is the  _ best _ part of the day. Because then you'll wake up tomorrow with new energy AND after having had some wicked dreamventures. Not gonna lie, Dirk, I kinda envy you that you're getting to go asleep.”

You snort a little. Dave certainly doesn't spare Dirk from his rants, but you've noticed that when they've directed at Dirk, Dave no longer refers to himself as the coolest dude alive - Dirk is getting that honour. It's.. honestly really fucking adorable.

Dirk hardly looks convinced by this argument, but the kid seems to at least know when to pick his fights. He hops down from the couch and mumbles something about brushing teeth, voice almost out of hearing range even for you. You glance back up at Dave who gives an exaggerated shrug.

“Baby steps, Kat. D-man needs time and space with everyone. And trust me on this one - you've already got a lot of props with him. He wouldn’t voluntarily spend an entire week with just anyone.”

“That’s good to hear at least. You know him way better than I do.” You reply quietly, in order for Dirk not to overhear. And surely like you guessed, Dirk just comes back into the room with an uncertain look on his face. 

“What’s up dude?” Dave asks him, and Dirk looks between both of you, uncertain about whether he should ask his question or not. But he seems to eventually gather his courage.

“I want Karkat to do goodnight tonight.” He says very determinedly, and it surprises both you and Dave so much that you just turn and stare at each other. You take it as your cue to handle the situation.

“Of course Dirk! You gotta show me the how-to though.”

“Yeah, I’ll show you the ropes.” He answers, then he runs away again, to his room this time. Dave gives you the most encouraging smile of this century (and a thumbs up), you smile back and then get up to follow Dirk. He’s already crawled into bed when you arrive, his sunglasses neatly placed on the table next to the bed next to a glass of water. He looks at you expectantly and pats the side of his bed in a request. You find it adorable and quite honouring. So you take a seat next to him and clear your throat a bit, unsure of what.. to even do.

“So.. you brush your teeth good?”

“Yeah. One minute on the top, one minute on the bottom.”

“Perfect. No cavities are gonna catch you off guard, huh.” 

“Nu uh!”

“So, Dirk.. you've had a good day today?”

“Yeah.. I like it when bro is home so I don't have to go to kindergarten.”

“Oh? What's so bad about kindergarten?”

“The other kids are so noisy. And some are mean.”

“What? How dare they be mean towards such a cool guy such as yourself?”

“I dunno.”

“I can talk to Dave about that if you want. Or come with you to kindergarten and scare all the meanies away.”

“Karkat.”

“Yeah?”

“That'd be kick-ass.”

You chuckle at his exclamation and nod in agreement. 

“But, hey, about this week. It's been fun for me too, to get to hang with you and Dave. I look forward to when we can hang out next time.” You tell him, and he smiles shyly as you stroke away some of his hair from his eyes. He seems to accept this gesture, and tucks himself down more into the bed. He looks so sleepy.

“I’m gonna miss you when you go.”

You try to suppress a very obvious 'aw’ noise because it's the first time Dirk has ever expressed any kind of affection to your face. 

“I’m gonna miss you too, and Dave. But I’ll see you again during the week, no worries. And I promise to visit your kindergarten if you want me too.”

You run your hand over his hair again and he looks at you through almost closed eyes and sighs into the bed cover.

“You seem pretty beat dude, maybe no bedtime story or whatever you humans do?”

Dirk chuckles quietly again and shakes his head, you guess it’s to show he agrees to that. And as if he’s been standing outside the door and listening this whole time, Dave’s head pops in through the doorway.

“Goodnight lil dude!” He whispers exaggeratedly, and Dirk raises a single hand to give him a finger gun. You suppress yet another snort and take your hand back from patting Dirk’s hair. 

“Good night Dirk, sleep well.” You tell him quietly, and as he turns around in bed you hear the quietest; “Good night, dad.”

It’s really fucking impressive that you manage to contain any kind of noises until you’re outside of Dirk’s room. Dave can’t have heard him, because he’s looking all kinds of confused to why you’re most likely beet red in your face and smiling like some giddy idiot.

“What’s up dude? Did he say something?”

When the door is properly closed you grab hold of Dave’s sleeve and pull him away so you can gush without having Dirk hear.

“ _ Dave. _ He called me  _ dad. _ ”

And Dave might be wearing his stupid sunglasses still but you can still see how huge his eyes must be because of his amazingly flabbergasted expression.

“Dude what?!”

“He said  _ goodnight dad _ , jesus fucking christ, Dave.” You gush again and just fucking bump your head into your boyfriend’s shoulder and properly rub it against him.

“That’s simultaneously the dumbest and cutest thing I’ve ever heard, holy fuck. I’m gonna have to explain to him how dad’s work, because that’s  _ not _ correct.” Dave is cackling now, and you can’t help but join. It had been amazingly sweet to finally get it confirmed from the kid himself that you’re on good terms with him… better terms than you ever could have imagined. 

While you still got your face buried in Dave’s shirt, he wraps his arms around you and kisses the top of your head. You can’t say that this is how you expected your first full weekend with your two favourite persons to go, but you’re more than delighted that it turned out this way.


End file.
